Melt My Brain
by Antiform
Summary: People and memories have been disappearing. Seifer Almasy has been given another chance at becoming SeeD, but the only way he's going to make it is by taking down the makers of a junctioning drug that strips people clean of their memories-or worse. I own nothing.
1. Back Again

The streets of Dollet hadn't changed much in 5 years. What damage had been done was long since cleaned away, buildings rebuilt, soldiers gone. The atmosphere of the city was less hostile than the last time he'd been there, but that was to be expected, considering the SeeD practical exam had taken place on the streets of Dollet when it had been overrun by Galbadian soldiers. Seifer Almasy had seen the city the summer before. That was before he went on to Deling and met General Caraway's daughter and pissed the General the hell off by briefly dating his daughter. That was a lifetime ago.

In the time since then, the world had seen war and magic like never before. The war itself was blessedly short, but the repercussions were still being felt. Most people went on with their lives—what else was there to do? Others couldn't, and that was the reason for Seifer's trip to Dollet.

For a while, time compression had been blamed for most disappearances. Most of the people had shown up weeks or months later, perfectly healthy, having lost that time completely. They'd fallen into random time anomalies, or so the scientists said, and ended up simply walking into another time.

It wasn't until people started being found with no memories whatsoever that suspicions began to rise. GFs did damage to memories, but that had never been seen on such a scale. Indeed, it wasn't until recently that the general consensus was that GFs did any damage at all. Most of it was temporary, and not so bad as to erase an entire life.

After months of investigation, it was discovered that someone had figured out how to make synthetic GF-like magical drugs that could be equipped where a GF would. Those who wanted to forget could. Many times more potent than any of the drugs formerly preferred by people who wanted to numb the pain of memories, the drug slowly ate away at the brain as it dissolved until all long-term memory was permanently erased. An unlucky few had remembered well enough to continue to equip until it dissolved too much of the brain to function anymore. The investigation pointed towards Dollet as the center for business for the drug.

Seifer Almasy, ex-Knight, had been accepted back at Garden four years after the war. Acquitted of war crimes after a months-long trial, he'd wandered for a good year and a half until rejoining his friends in FH and starting a calm, sedentary life in the fishing town. He took odd jobs and went fishing a lot. A full four years after his last attempt at making SeeD, he and his friends had been invited back to Garden on the condition that he pass his next exam.

It was determined that the infamous former Knight would do better on a solo mission for his test. Edea had insisted that he be given something that suited him. Zell had bitched that solo missions are only for the elite, but in the end it was Squall's decision that mattered. Putting Seifer on a team under the supervision of any other cadet would be disastrous. Giving him a team of his own wouldn't work either, as half of the other candidates were bitter that he'd even been allowed the chance, while the other half were quite awed by the man.

Why they'd decided on sending one of the most recognizable faces in the world to sniff out a drug ring was beyond him. Seifer had been told to keep a low profile and find the supplier. It wasn't an in-and-out mission like most exams, and Seifer was sure the almighty commander was getting touched in the head if he thought Seifer Almasy could blend in with the crowd and sniff out a secret drug ring.

He supposed it was a good thing that his presence at Garden had been kept hush-hush. Most of the world heard of his disappearance after the trials, then nothing else. Only the citizens of FH had ever known he'd settled down there for a while. Garden kept its secrets, and the former Disciplinary Committee was one of them.

Though their relationship had never been all that great, Seifer had a lot of respect for his rival. Leonhart, it would seem, shared the sentiment. They'd discussed the plan at length in the days preceding his departure.

Seifer Almasy, disgraced Sorceress' Knight and lapdog, would reappear in Dollet, looking for work. The story was that he'd been wandering, taking jobs as they came, some extermination, reconstruction, and the odd business deal. Perhaps even the more traditional mercenary work.

He'd have no contact with the outside world, no access to Garden funds, no help whatsoever apart from the emergency number that he'd been made to memorize before leaving. What he brought would have to do. Until the ring was brought down, they could not suspect Garden of investigating at all.

It was late when he found a good place to stay and set up shop. It was a small, run-down inn down an alley not all that far from the center of town. The alley wasn't one you'd take your family down, and it served his purposes nicely. On the other side of the street, he could see a pair of shoes dangling from the power lines.

As he walked through the door, the innkeeper glanced up from the paper. Before the balding man could messily fold the large paper and stash it, Seifer got a glimpse of the front-page headline. Another disappearance, this time on the outskirts of Timber. It was impossible to tell whether the drug was to blame or if they'd simply walked into next year.

"What can I do for you?" the man asked, looking him up and down. Without his trademark trench coat, Seifer wasn't quite as recognizable as he would normally be. Still, the innkeeper must have at least found him familiar.

"Single," Seifer replied. "We'll start with a week, then go from there."

It took a moment for the words to sink in, but Seifer was checked in without incident. Tomorrow, the search would begin.


	2. Haunted Station

Fucking junkies and their fucking lost memories. Fucking innkeeper and his balding head. A full five days in to his excruciatingly and stupidly complex _exam_ and Seifer was ready to pull out his hair. Or wait until he gets back to Garden—how many years would this fucking mission take? —and pull out Leonhart's hair. The guy was just asking for it. What kind of products did he use, anyway?

The few users the blond had been able to find barely remembered what they'd eaten for breakfast, much less who they had gotten the stuff from. They'd bought enough of the shit to erase their entire lives, then gone about them. Working the bar at the shadiest pub in town had yielded those results, but it was the security work he was doing for some gambling house that gave him his newest information.

Everyone had kept away from the ruined TV station after the Galbadians had abandoned it. A new one had been built following the restoration of communications after Adel was brought down, so it was simply an ugly landmark now, or so they thought.

For years, there were whispers that the place was haunted. If the wind blew right, _something_ could be heard coming from the station. A few months ago, a couple of kids had gotten the idea to investigate on a prank. They came back a week later, void of any memory of the place—or any memories, for that matter. Just a few weeks ago, one of the other security guards had seen a middle-aged man sneaking in the direction of the station.

If this was a dealer—or the supplier—it could be that they were cooking it up or distributing the drug from there. It was worth a shot.

The last time he'd made this trek, he'd been full of confidence, ready to take down some bad guys and earn his rightful place in SeeD. At one time, Seifer Almasy was sure to be the second youngest SeeD ever, after Trepe. Now, he was one of the older cadets taking the test this year. The oldest person to make SeeD had been nearly 30—far enough away from his 23 years for him so still be normal—but this was Seifer's one chance. He wasn't full of that youthful confidence this time, though.

_This better be where they're fucking hiding_, he thought, looking down from the same spot he'd used to scout last time. There were no soldiers, no middle-aged men. The place looked abandoned, and, frankly, dangerous to enter. What did he have to lose? His life was at Garden now, like it or not, and his dream was so close. If he couldn't check out a dilapidated building and sniff out a drug ring, he sure as hell wouldn't ever achieve any dreams.

The door had once been locked up with chains, but those had been cut a long time ago and had started to rust, lying on the ground. A sign on the door warned anyone stupid enough to get this far that the place was condemned. Well, of course it was condemned. The place looked like a fucking haunted carnival attraction, and had the stories to back up that claim.

The door creaked and echoed throughout the bottom floor. _Brilliant, Almasy,_ _let them know you're here._ There was a door on the other side of the elevator shaft. It was slightly ajar with a bit of light trickling in the dark interior. He peeked in, but the room was empty except for the odd broken glass and equipment. He'd found where they'd been making it, but no one had been here in some time. A few weeks or days, he couldn't be sure, but they sure as hell weren't there now.

Cursing to himself, he checked the rest of the building. The top floor was a disaster waiting to happen. The place had been abandoned once again, though, and there was no telling where they'd gone from what he could see.

He returned to the first, empty lab and took a look around. Most of it was filled with bare tables where they would have been working on manufacturing the drug, but there was a desk in the far corner. It was covered in dust, but he could make out the outlines where piles of paperwork had once been. So they'd conducted business here as well, or managed expenses, at least. He had no doubt that the bastards had made sure to keep this place a secret. It was probably their idea to market the place as haunted.

There was nothing at all in the desk drawers of interest until he noticed a small scrap of paper wedged between the joints at the back of the drawer. It had once been a receipt, judging from the paper, but he had no idea what exactly it could be for. He could just make out, "Tim."

Either someone named Tim bought or sold something, or this had something to do with Timber.

"Well shit." Seifer sent another curse in the General direction of Balamb, hoping Leonhart somehow received it and felt his annoyance. "Find them and take them down, he said. What the fuck do you expect now?"

Carefully, he returned to his shit hole in the wall hotel room. His orders had been to take down the supplier, not to go on a wild goose chase across the continent. He'd also been explicitly told _not_ to leave his post until he'd taken them out. Before, Seifer would have been the first to suggest chasing the dirtbags all the way to hell if necessary, orders be damned, but now he couldn't afford to go looking for glory. He'd wanted to make SeeD, then do all the stupid heroic shit.

Sighing, he dug the burner phone out of his pack and dialed the number he'd been given.

"Tell Leonhart they got the wrong place and I am not taking responsibility for someone else's screw ups," he said before Xu could say anything. It would only aggravate his mood to hear more than a greeting from her. "Just get him on the line. I don't care what he's doing."

"What?" he heard a moment later. The commander sounded half-asleep. Perfect. If Seifer couldn't sleep yet, neither could he.

"They closed up shop _at least_ a week ago and left. My bet's on Timber. Orders?"

If Squall thought it was odd that Seifer had asked for orders, he said nothing about it. "Just...Report back to Garden."

That settled it, for now. Face the music, then go track down the bastards. He was on a boat back to Balamb the next morning.


	3. Debrief

The ride back to Balamb was short, as usual, but still boring as hell alone. Seifer caught a SeeD car back to Garden near the docks. The driver was no one he knew, but the girl was friendly and asked how his mission had gone. He kept his responses vague, and she caught on that it was need-to-know and shut up.

It was still early, so only a few people were in the halls. Students would certainly either be in class, the cafeteria, or the library. Even though the former Disciplinary Committee had been back for a while, the blond still got the occasional stare in the hallways, as if people were surprised to see him there. He'd even learned of a betting pool going on how long it would take him to get kicked out. Rumor had it that someone named Leon had bet that he'd make SeeD.

He made it to the elevator without incident and entered the access code for the third floor. Technically, he wasn't supposed to even know it. The almighty commander had simply told him not to take advantage of the privilege when he'd learned that Seifer had managed to find it out. Seifer was sure that Edea had something to do with that, seeing as she'd been the one to give him the code.

Though, there was always the possibility that Leonhart had a soft spot for him. Seifer would never say they'd bonded since his return, and no matter what he said, Seifer respected his former rival and suspected the feeling was returned. There was an unspoken agreement to return to their former relationship, or at least as close to it as they could.

As always, Xu was annoyed at the sight of him. Whenever possible, Seifer kept their interactions to a minimum. She'd been his most vocal opponent before the whole sorceress thing, constantly reminding him of his inability to pass a simple SeeD test, constantly writing him off as a bad egg. She must have felt that she'd been proven right, because she took every opportunity to bring up his mistakes, touting them as reasons not to give him any more chances.

Seifer took every opportunity to remind her what a fucking bitch she was and a horrible authority figure.

"I know, check my weapon. Blah, blah," he said, beating her to the punch and setting his gunblade on her desk, right on top of the stack of paperwork she was working on. If he cared to have his weapon scuffed, he'd have made sure to make more of a mess of her work. "I'll see myself in."

"I'll get your expulsion papers ready," she called after him as he opened the commander's office door. He sent the bird over his shoulder and closed the door behind him.

"Seifer," greeted the headmaster, who then turned back to the commander. "I'll have Xu notify our contacts and prepare accommodations." With that, Cid lifted himself from the chair he'd been sitting in and left the room.

Seifer plopped down into the recently vacated chair. "I ought to get a medal for not following those bastards, by the way," he told the other gunblade user, casually crossing his legs.

Squall shook his head. "You don't get a medal for simply following orders."

"Yeah, well, considering my stupid ass orders were two completely different things in this case, I better not get points off for only being able to carry out half of them," Seifer replied. "If I don't pass this damn test, I'm leaving."

Squall sighed, shaking his head again. He must have had a headache, or Seifer was giving him one. Serves him right. "You're not leaving, Seifer. We're sending a team to Timber to check it out."

He looked like he had more to say, but he was interrupted by a knock on the door. Before he could say anything, Selphie was poking her head in. "Got a minute?" She bounced in before either man could reply.

"So I looked into that thing you wanted, Squall, and we were _right_. Someone sent a message right before Seifer left. They _knew_." Seifer had expected as much, considering they'd cleared out so recently, but a mole?

"Thanks for telling everyone, Selphie," Squall said, looking a bit annoyed, yet used to it. Selphie wasn't as bad as Zell when it came to spilling secrets stupidly, but she just assumed it was fine to tell the golden six pretty much everything. Somehow, lately, that had come to include Seifer. She said that they were practically family, so why keep secrets?

"It was pretty obvious," Seifer told him, waving his hand dismissively. "I mean, they can't have been gone long before I got there. I bet they heard we were on to them way before that."

"Seify, how was your test?" Selphie asked, smiling.

"Didn't I ask you not to call me that?"

"Yep, but it suits you. I can't wait until your graduation! Save a dance for me!"

Squall cleared his throat, reminding the hyper SeeD that this was not a social call. "Graduation isn't for another week. The other examinees haven't even had their test."

Selphie took an excited breath and grinned. "Oh, this is going to be the best graduation ball EVER."

"Dismissed, Selphie!"

"See ya later, guys!" She skipped to the door and twirled out, and Seifer wondered just how she could be so perky at all hours.

Squall massaged the bridge of his nose before returning his attention to Seifer. "Results of the test will be posted later, but Cid and I agree that your performance was satisfactory."

"Oh, you do love me," Seifer said, smirking, but contained his excitement. "Who's on the Timber team?"

"It hasn't been decided. There's a leak, so we're keeping it quiet."

"I get it, don't blab." Seifer stood and stretched. "I take it I have until after the ball before I'm needed."

Squall nodded, and Seifer understood his silent dismissal.

He collected his gunblade from Xu with a grin on the way out.. "You ain't getting rid of me just yet," he told her, winking, as the elevator doors shut. Hyperion on one shoulder, Seifer Almasy walked to his dorm with all the confidence he'd had before Timber and the sorceress. There were more people in the hallways this time, and it suited the blond just nicely. Let them see he was _back_.

* * *

It took me longer than I'd wanted to get this chapter written. This time of year is pretty busy because of school ending, friends leaving, trips being taken, etc.

I'm living in Japan at the moment. As of this week, I've been here for a year! That means that those of us that are going back home are leaving soon, and the new people are arriving. Naturally, a group of us took a trip to climb Mt. Fuji. I got back last Monday and spent the rest of the week trying and failing to pass the Japanese driving test. I finally got it on Friday. Then there were end of term parties for my schools, etc.

Excuses, excuses, really. I do basically nothing at work right now since the students aren't even there. I have no problem reading fanfic at my desk, but writing it is too personal to do in public, no matter how little everyone can read and speak English. Smut? No problem. Writing my own stuff? NO THANK YOU.

The real perk about my job is that I can send a mail to my supervisor at 9pm and ask about taking the next two days off because if I'm going to do nothing at my desk for 8 hours on very little sleep because I went to two work parties on a Tuesday night, I ought to just do nothing while not getting out of bed and save my energy for the entire month of August of doing nothing. Thus, I was able to find time and wakefulness to write again.

Thank you to everyone who has started to read this so far. The writing may evolve as we go along, as I get back into the rhythm after years of writing nothing but academic papers and shitty blog posts. I love getting input, so if you have comments or suggestions, please send them my way in a review or at my tumblr: weremermaid.


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